Drinking vessel and process of making same



APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28,1922.

Patented May 30, 1922.

INVENTOR h/E/V/PI ,7. 1/0 5: BY CP$N WITNESS UNITED-STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' HENRY A. mouse, or BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO PUBLIC srmvion- GU]? (30., OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DRINKING VESSEL AND PROCESS OF MAKING SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application filed April 20, 1911, Serial No. 622,293. Divided and this application filed February 28, 1922. Serial No. 539,822. I

.the following is a specification.

This invention relates to drinking cups made of paper or similar material. Hitherto drinking cups had been made of paper which was suitably prepared so as to be impervious to liquids but these cups were made of two pieces, which after a single use of the cup tended to separate so as to render the cup useless. Efforts were also made to prepare cups of 'asingle piece of paper by folding or pleating paper into cup form and then paraifining the same to stiffen the structure and to permit it to remain sufficiently rigid for the purpose of a singleuse. Such under conditions of elevated temperature;

smallest possible space; when nested they must in the nested condition be uniformly spaced apart; in order to be dispensable by machinery they mustv be alike no matter when produced so as to fit the same standard distributing machines; they must be strong; they must be rigid; the pleats mustbe resistant against opening; but above all they must be made so inexpensive as .to be capable of reaching the general public at a cost very much less than, and at most such as not to exceed, the minimum unit of coinage.

The object of the present invention is to provide a drinking vesselmade of paper and so constructed as to be entirely stiff and capable. of withstanding thestresses of use to such an extent that the cup is not destroyed until its user physically applies the destructive force,'the entire cup to be of extreme cheapness and to contain as small an amount of araffine, or like material, as possiblex i ttempts to make such cups by para ning the paper in the first instance and then pleating, relying uponthe adhesive character of the paraffin to cement the pleats together have been wholly unsuccessful. Attempts to pleat paper into cup shape and then paraflinmg have, obviously, resulted in the production of a usable cup structure but not of such a structure as was capable of fulfilling the. requirements of applicants purposes, i. e.

of supplying the public with one-piece paper drinking cups at nominal cost but of great strength, rigidity, durability, uniformity and efiiciency.

Applicants invention differs from all prior suggestions in this, that he takes into consideration and employs beneficially in conjunction with each other the following three essentials:

1. The original paper must not be dried out or brittle but must be pliable by reason of contained moisture;

2. The pleated paper cup must be formed and before the paper has lost the elevated temperature, of its formative period; i. e. immediately after it leaves the forming instrumentalities or at least at atime' when the cup (should it have cooled) is nevertheless maintained in or'restored to the same physical condition as when it is first made.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a drinking cup embodyin the invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical centra section of the same taken on the line 22 of Fig. 3; Fig.3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and Fig. '5 is a detail enlarged.

Thevessel is formed from a single sheet same as also provide vertical ribs of threethicknesses of material, namely, the outer 3. The p'arafiining of the cup must occur fold 17, the intermediate 1501a 18, and the inner fold 19, which act by themselves, to give a strengthening power to the vessel. At the upper edge of the vessel there is formed a lip 22, pressed asthin as possible. At the bottom of the cup is preferably formed a recess 11 extending upwardly from the annular portion 12 of the cup bottom 10'.

In manufacturing these vessels or cups, the sheet of paper" from which they are formed must besuch as to be easily shaped and pleated, and good qualitypaper generally carries enough contained moisture to satisfy conditions although in certain instances it may be advisable to supplement the paper s natural moisture content. The paper blank is depressed at its center and by proper simultaneous depression and manipulation of the forming tools the sheet outside of the base is pleated and given the general shape shown in the drawings. The mechanism used for forming the cups is no part of this application and many varieties ofmachines are available for performing the operations of' shaping and pleating the paper blank in the desired manner. See, for example, Patent No. 1,047,173 of December L7, 1912. It is, however, a feature of proper cup making tools or implements, from the standpoint of the present invention, that the cup after it has'been pleated shall be compressed in its pleated form under substantial pressure .and under hot formative conditions, as otherwise a cup such as shown in the drawings will not be produced. A paper cup pleated and compressed in its cold state will not be compact like the cups shown in the drawing and will not maintain itself in use, as a cup, but will readily open up and be substantially useless. The moisture contents of the paper, to which reference has already been made, prevents the paper from becoming brittle even though-it is made and compressed underhot conditions and it is probable that said moisture,.togetherwith the sizing in the paper, participates in giving the cup when made hot its proper set-and relative permanence of structure, such as is indicated in the cup shown in the drawings. After the on s ave been formed and while they are sti l warm, they are treated with or im- .mersed in melted paraffin, or like material,

which saturates thepaper fibre and waterproofs the same and at the same time ce' ments the folds of the pleats forming the ribs together, so that the cup when coldwith the consequent stiffening of the paraffin becomes rlgid and waterproof. The fact that the cups are warm at, the moment of their contact with hot para'flin means that the cups at that time are in the condition of then creation and this circumstance is of considerable importance. after being formed as described, are per- If the cups,

mitted to become cool and are then paraf' fined, it will be found not only that the pleats of the paper have a tendency to open up (even though the cups are subsequently re-warmed) but also that the, final product is no longer uniform or as structurally sound as it should be. "When the cups are parafiined at the moment of the release from the mold or pressure device and while they are still warm, their thencondition will be permanentized by the paraffin and the latter, due to the'warmth of the paper itself, is enabled to enter into. the interstices of the cellular'structure of the paper, thereby on cooling rendering the paper it- 'self rigid and forming a waterproof condition within the body of the paper. In other words, the paraffin enters throughout the cellular body of the paper and forms an entirely parafiined. condition in the paper itself and more or less'completely fills allthe interstices and completely coats the internal structure of the paper. It is, consequently, indispensable that the applica ,tion of the parafiin must take place upon the cup "while the latter is in the condition in which it first leaves the forming instrumentalities and preferably before the warmth of the cup imparted to it during its formation, is dissipated. The cup being freshly formed, all the paper parts of the cu are in their proper relative positions, ust as shown. inAthe drawing, in

which position they are then promptly permanentized, whereas if the cups are allowed to stand and become cool, they will either, ifparafiined in that condition, re su'lt in a non-commercial cup or require restoration' to the condition of their first creation, a wasteful and unsatisfactory practice.

It is thus obvious that unless the various essentials of my process are employedpa cup such as shown in the drawings will not be produced and the essentials of my cup and of my procem of making the cup are that the paper cup must be formed in such a way that it shall be warm when it leaves the forming or pressure instrumentalities and that it shall be paraflined while still in this condition. I dofnot claim any process of making single piece paper cups which are formed in such a way as to be folded and pleated under cold conditions, nor anysuch r paraflining" the same before they have lost their formative (warm) condition.

The within specification isa division of on April 20, 1911.

The cups, as described, form. a practical, cheap, attractive and sanitary drinking ves- \application Serial No. 622,293, filed by me' sel-and are especially adapted to be used in hospitals, schools and public places, and by reason of their structure and rigidity they are enabled to retain Water or other liquid for hours making them especially adapted for use by doctors and dentists, especially as they are not subject to objectionable self destruction upon being used by the same patient more than once.

One embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, but it is obvious that the invention can be applied for vessels and receptacles of many shapes and for various purposes, and to this end changes may 'be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. The process of making pleated paper vessels which consists in subjecting a. single sheet of paper having a substantial moisture content,to a pleating operation to form the same into the general shape of the desired vessel, giving the pleats of the vessel a set under conditions such that the paper itself is heated and then before said heat is dissipated, applying to said vessel melted parafiin.

2. The process of making pleated paper vessels which consists in subjecting a single sheet of paper having a substantial moisture content, to a pleating operation to form the same into the general shape of the desired vessel, including a laterally projecting lip thereon, giving the pleats of the vessel and of its lip a set under conditions such that the paper itself is heated and then before said heat is dissipated, applying to said vessel melted parafiin.

3. A pleated paper drinking cup, consisting of a pleated cellular. base having a cup shape, the pleats of which are associated in approximately the same relative position towards each other as they are when freshly formed, and congealed paraffin uniformly and thoroughly distributed throughout the entire cellular body of the base, the same being the result of the application of melted paraflin to the pleated base while the latter is warm.

4. A pleated paper drinking cup, consisting of a pleated cellular base having a bulged body and an outwardly extending lip substantially the shape of an ogee curve, the pleats of which are associated in approximately the same relative position towards each other as they are when freshly formed, and congealed parafiin uniformly and thoroughly distributed throughout the entire cellular body of the base, the same being the result of the application of melted paraflin to the pleated base before the latter has lost the heat of its creation.

5. A drinking cup, consisting of a paper base having a cup shape, the cells of which are throughout the entire paper base filled with paraffin congealed from melted paraffin applied to the cup shaped paper base before the latter has lost the heat of its creation.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name.

HENRY A. HOUSE. 

